Tyler Kolek has been up and down throughout conference play up to this point. He scored 21 points in a much-needed bounce-back performance in an 87-74 win for the Marquette Golden Eagles over the Villanova Wildcats.
Kolek the last two games scored in single digits and they were 0-2 in those games. Marquette is 1-2 in conference play this year when he scores in the single digits and they are 3-1 when he doesn’t. They lost to Seton Hall and Butler when Kolek scored in single digits with 5 points against the Pirates and 2 points against the Bulldogs.
The lone game they lost in conference play when Tyler Kolek scored in double digits was 21 points against the Providence Friars. They will need his scoring throughout conference play to give them a chance to win the conference again this season, but it will be tough for them.
The Big East is a very strong conference this season. Marquette is currently 12-5 overall and they are 3-3 in Big East Conference play. On the year, he is averaging 14.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 6.6 APG on the season with Marquette.
Marquette Golden Eagles Head Coach Shaka Smart Speaks About How Well Tyler Kolek Played Against the Villanova Wildcats on Monday
Head coach Shaka Smart was pleased with the way how Kolek played on Monday afternoon against the Villanova Wildcats. He told Ben Steele of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the game was over by saying about Tyler Kolek’s performance:
“It was a particular action that we thought might work. When Tyler has a clarity about him like he did today, he’s as good as there is making that pass. And we thought we were going to get him going downhill on some of those actions. It really did set a tone. Today, we only shot 30% (7 for 23) from three. We didn’t shoot as many threes as Villanova. But I thought the guys understand, hey, we can drive, we can get in the paint, let’s continue to do that.”
Kolek will need to continue to drive to the paint to get baskets and the other shots will come. He needs to be one of the primary scorers on Marquette moving forward. It will make this basketball team more successful than not moving forward.
